


Small Increments

by closette



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Humid summer nights and sleeveless shirts, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 05:24:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10633137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/closette/pseuds/closette
Summary: Change begins with a vague sense of discomfort, when something that has always stayed the same shifts from its place, even by small increments.





	

It's supposed to be an ordinary night.

True, this night is different than usual because the air-conditioning in Oikawa's house is busted, so this night is more uncomfortable than usual. The oscillating fan, turned up to its highest setting, is just spewing out the same humid summer air that's currently sticking to their skin, so it's not doing Iwaizumi, Oikawa, or itself any favors.

Tonight is just another ordinary sleepover between best buds, born from the fact that Oikawa's got a new console with a console-exclusive game.

They haven’t had one of their infamous all-nighter 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM video game marathons for a while now, complete with Red Bull to stay awake, bags upon bags of junk food, and grumpy mothers that allow them this very unhealthy exercise only once a year, and only if there are no classes.

Alas, they finished the game by 1:00 AM, the Red Bull has worn off, and they went to sleep.

But for some reason, Iwaizumi is wide awake. And he's not sure if it's just because of the humidity.

\----

You'd think that with Iwaizumi's general image of a man among men, he'd have qualms sleeping on the same bed as his grown-ass best friend. 

Aren't 18 year olds supposed to be full to bursting with puberty induced hormones, their brains preoccupied with looking at girls, getting to touch girls, dating girls, and proving to everyone in their immediate vicinity that they're man enough to get the aforementioned girls?

Light touches without meaning, friendly hugs, and having warm feelings - he's very sure that his classmates and teammates are having none of those things.

But Iwaizumi is lucky - he doesn't appreciate how lucky he is now because he's young, as with all young people, but in the future, the knowledge pays off heavily in terms of self-respect - in that his father taught him that doing his best at being a man was simply about being the best human being he can possibly be.

Being the best man was being the best at how he treats others, and that's it. And that knowledge is just the way it is, and is nothing extraordinary to him.

So Iwaizumi was gruff, and strong, and stoic, as he saw his father to be, but he was also caring, and kind, and was not averse to having arms slung over his shoulder or getting and giving a hug during high and low points of his life. Iwaizumi's father's attitude towards his son may have been one of the reasons why they're alienated from his very, very aggressive grandfather. But Iwaizumi loves his father, and his grandfather is nothing but a distant and slightly unpleasant memory from when he was young.

That's a tangent for Iwaizumi to think about for another day.

\----

All these thoughts were running through his head as he lies awake beside Oikawa, their backs pressed against each other.

So Iwaizumi knows in himself that he isn't uncomfortable because of the fact that he's sleeping beside Oikawa - he's been doing this for years - but there's something particularly strange tonight.

Maybe because it's so hot. So hot that they're wearing sleeveless shirts and Oikawa's skin was rubbing uncomfortably - uncomfortably? - against Iwaizumi's arm as he shifts in his sleep. His skin looks and feels soft for a guy, regardless of the muscle underneath.

Or maybe it’s because Iwaizumi smells Oikawa's shampoo from his pillow, and from his head, currently angled towards him when he shifted. Why doesn't he smell like sweat, Iwaizumi wonders? Why is his hair still kind of soft-looking and bouncy, even when he's sleeping? Why isn't he drooling, or snoring, but instead sleeping as if he's posing for a magazine?

God, this guy. No wonder girls fawn over him; he just defies the laws of nature and humid summer nights. 

He puts distance between them because it's finally becoming uncomfortably sticky. Then stupid Oikawa, for reasons unknown, decides to throw his arm and leg across Iwaizumi, effectively pinning him on the spot. While this is not an unusual occurrence in the long course of their friendship, the last time that they were this close to each other outside of victory hugs was when they were young and embraced each other while sleeping.

Iwaizumi starts to struggle and to slightly push himself away from his clingy bedmate, but this causes him to move against Oikawa's thigh, and the said thigh slowly slides from his abdomen down to his upper leg. The thigh stops there, and presses a touch deeply, as if trying to draw him closer. Oikawa's arm moves from his chest in a weird parallel, a slow drag downwards toward his stomach, touching everything along the way.

He feels chills run up his spine from the sensation. A familiar chill. Actually not a chill, but something more -

Electric. No, no, no, no, no.

He grabs Oikawa's thigh and slowly lifts it off him and slides out from under the arm. Then he decides that he needs some fresh air, now. Because fresh air will clear his mind, and will clear this weird, electric feeling from his body - this uncomfortable, prickly sensation. He's not sure if he's horrified, because at the same time, there's a weird part of him that wants to go back and slide himself against Oikawa, to feel more of what he felt before.

A quick jog outside sounds perfect right about now as well.

That was nothing, just a normal physical reaction, Iwaizumi thinks, as he closes the door to Oikawa's bedroom. Nothing to worry about.

Nobody has to know.

___

As Iwaizumi quietly leaves the room, he doesn't notice that the tips of his friend's ears are redder than usual. He doesn’t see his friend flip himself the other way – doesn’t see him rub his arm almost longingly, as if tracing something felt there before.

He doesn't see the way his friend breathes deeply as well, as if clearing thoughts and sensations from his head in the same way.

That night, Iwaizumi’s not the one thinking that for change to start, someone has to start moving things from their original place, even by small shifts and small movements. In time, hopefully, these small changes will lead to the place where the person wants it to go.

**Author's Note:**

> My summer's just hot and humid and irritating and not as eventful as this. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
